Protestors campaigning for better air quality in Bristol brought one of the main routes in the city centre to a standstill on Wednesday.

More than a dozen protesters from a group called Rising Up Bristol unfurled banners across both lanes at the top of Park Street and stopped all motorised vehicles, including buses, from passing.

The protest, which lasted for more than ten minutes, was facilitated by the police, which directed traffic to avoid the blockage, and calmed drivers stuck in a long queue stretching all the way down Park Street to College Green.

It is the second time protesters have blocked a main road in the centre of Bristol.

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One of the organisers, Stu, said the aim of the protest was to highlight the number of deaths in Bristol – people with breathing conditions or who suffer heart conditions - that scientists say can be attributable to traffic pollution.

Protest against air pollution on top of Park Street, Bristol. (Image: Artur Lesniak/)

“Around 300 deaths a year are attributable to nitrogen dioxide and fine particle matter that we are breathing,” he said.

“Just living in the centre of Bristol is equivalent to smoking between four and seven cigarettes every day, that’s just living in the city.

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“It’s filthy, it’s disgusting and it’s not changing fast enough. We have a city that is built for cars, we have a city that subsidises the oil industry and the car industry.

“We don’t want this. We want a city that is liveable. We want a city that is healthy, a city with safe bike lanes, a walkable city. We want a city that we can live in, that doesn’t kill us just by being here,” he added.

Protest against air pollution on top of Park Street, Bristol. (Image: Artur Lesniak)

Most of the drivers, including several bus drivers, who became stuck behind the protest switched their engines off while they waited, but Bristol Post readers gave short shrift to the protest which came a day after the city suffered major gridlock with the closure of the M5 yesterday.